Happening

How to spell happening

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce happening

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does happening mean?

1. verbThe present participle of happen: in the process of occurring or taking place.
2. nounAn event or occurrence, especially a notable or unplanned one.

Happening in a sentence

• verb

  Something strange is happening in the warehouse at night.

• noun

  The street festival was the biggest happening of the summer.

• verb

  Nobody could explain what was happening to the network.

• noun

  Reporters arrived to cover the unexpected happening downtown.

Where does happening come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

This word grows from the Middle English verb 'happen', which meant 'to come about by chance'. That verb was built on the noun 'hap', meaning 'luck' or 'chance', a word English borrowed from the Old Norse 'happ', meaning 'good fortune' or 'chance occurrence'. The same root still surfaces in 'happy' (originally 'lucky') and 'mishap' (a piece of bad luck). The form 'happening' is simply the verb plus the '-ing' ending, used both as a present participle and, from the early twentieth century, as a noun for an event or occurrence, a sense that became especially fashionable in the 1960s art scene. The spelling trap is the doubled 'p', inherited straight from 'happen', followed by the single 'n' before '-ing'.

How the word is built

• happen (to occur, from hap: chance)
• -ing (present participle / noun suffix)